Cotton processing apparatus



June 22, 1954 M. STEELE COTTON PROCESSING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed July 15. 1952 urn I MAco/v L. STEELE IN VE N 70/? HUEBNER,BEEHLER,

WORREL 8 HERZIG' ATTORNEY:

June 22, 1954 M. STEELE COTTON PROCESSING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed July 15, '1952 MACON L. STEELE lNVfNTO/P HUEBNER, BEE/(LEE,

WORREL 8 HERZ/G ATTORNEYS BY way/M Patented June 22, 1954 COTTONPROCESSING APPARATUS Macon L. Steele, Fresno, Calif., assignor toProducers Cotton Oil Company, Fresno, Calif.

Application July 15, 1952, Serial No. 298,924

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to cotton processing apparatus and moreparticularly to a cotton boll breaker.

Although it has long been known to clean seed cotton preliminary toginning operations by means of cleaners or extractors, the problemsincident to the ginning of the cotton contained in unopened or partiallyopened bolls have generally been regarded as insurmountable. Theinability properly to gin cotton in such bolls and the frequency withwhich weather conditions inhibit proper boll opening have heretoforeresulted in considerable waste of potentially available cotton fiber.

.Extensive efforts by almost all commercial gins to solve the problem ofextraction of cotton lint from unopened bolls belies the apparentsimplicity of the problem which would appear to be solvable by anysimple crushing or tearing operation. Previous unsuccessful efforts tosolve the problem have generally been concerned with operations whichhave either inadequately exposed the lint for ginning purposes or haveso lowered the quality of the lint in making it available as to precludecommercial feasibility.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatusfor the preconditioning of unopened or inadequately opened bolls forsubsequent ginning.

Another object is to salvage cotton lint from unopened and inadequatelyopened bolls.

Another object is to provide a boll breaking apparatus that isconveniently incorporated into existing and new gins utilizing air lineconveyors.

Another object is to provide a cotton boll breaker which successfullyshatters inadequately opened bolls and exercises impelling forcesthereon obviating clogging.

Another object is to provide a bull breaker which is economical toconstruct, durable in form, convenient and easy to repair, and fullyefiective in accomplishing its intended functions.

Further objects and. advantages will become apparent in the subsequentdescription in the specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a cotton ginning apparatusincorporating the boll breaker of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a somewhat enlarged perspective view of the boll breaker shownin Fig. 1 and bypass conduit therefor.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the boll breaker shown in Fig. 1 as viewedfrom line 3-3.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on. line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on line 55 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is anenlarged perspective view of a fragment of a drive shaftutilized in the boll breaker showing a pair of blades mounted thereon.

Referring in greater detail to the drawings:

Although it will be understood that the boll breaker of the presentinvention can be successfully utilized in numerous operationalenvironments, portions of a conventional cotton gin are illustrated inFig. 1 to demonstrate one such environment in which the breaker has beenpopularly employed. The numeral It) represents an intake conduit throughwhich cotton is delivered to the boll breaker of the present inventionfor treatment preliminary to ginning operations. It is the usualpractice to provide the conduit with a flexible extended end, not shown,which may be lowered into a cotton trailer or the like to draw cottonupwardly therefrom. Conventionally the supply conduit is connected to aseparator H having a vacuum manifold 12 through which dirt and debris isdrawn from cotton passed through the separator. A blower I3 has anintake connected to the vacuum manifold and serves not only to draw dirtand debris from the separator I2 but so reduces the air pressure in theseparator to such an extent that cotton is drawn through the supplyconduit l and into the separator. A vertical accumulating chamber I4 isconnected to the separator and extended downwardly for connection to abaffie drum l which serves to regulate the rate of cotton passage into adrier It. Cotton is drawn from the drier through an air line H fordelivery to a gin feeder, not shown.

The boll breaker of the present invention indicated generally at isconveniently interposed between the intakeconduit Hi and the separator ll. A bifurcated fitting 2! is connected to the intake conduit andprovides a pair of outlets 22 and 23. A butterfly valve is mounted inthe fitting and is adjustably positioned to direct cotton drawn throughthe intake conduit 1c selectively out either of the outlets. 'A bypassconduit 25 interconnects the outlet 22 and the separator I l.

A supply conduit 28 is connected to the outlet 23 of the fitting 2i andto an intake 29 of the boll breaker 20. A discharge conduit 38 isconnected between an outlet 3| of the boll breaker and the separator. Asa measure of convenience, the discharge conduit 30 and. the bypassconduit 25 3 preferably join prior to connection to the separator.

As most clearly evident in Figs. 1 and 5, the boll breaker 20 utilizes ahousing 33 having a pair of symmetrical sides 34 located insubstantially erect parallel planes. The sides are preferablysymmetrical providing similarly shaped upper and lower edges each havinga fracto-circular central portion 35 and oppositely extended convergentportions 36. An upper panel 31 and a lower panel 38 are fitted to theupper and lower edges of the sides 34 respectively and secured thereto.It will be apparent, that the housing may be fabricated from sheet metalor other suitable material.

It is significantthat the intake 23 and the outlet 3! defined by thesides 34 and panels 31 and 38 of the housing are substantiallyhorizontally oppositely disposed and are aligned substantiallydiametrically of the housing.

Although the boll breaker 20'may be mounted or supported in any suitablemanner, it has been found convenient to provide a hanger 40 of angleiron or the like at each side of the housing. The hangers areconveniently suspended from any desired support, not shown. A pillowblock All is bolted to each of the hangers and provides a bearing 42extended concentrically in each of the sides 34 of the housing. Anelongated drive shaft 45 has cylindrical opposite end portions 46journaled in the bearings and an intermediate portion 41 of hexagonal orother desired polygonal cross-section.

A pulley 50 is mounted on the shaft 45 externally of the housing 33 anddriven by means of a motor through a drive belt 52, or by any othersuitable means. It is significant, as will subsequently become apparent,that the shaft 45 is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewedin Fig. 5.

A plurality of pairs of blades 55 are mounted on the intermediateportion 41 of the shaft and laterally extended therefrom. As best shownin Figs. 4 and 6, each blade is formed from an elongated fiat strap ofiron, steel, or other suitable material and has an extended end 55 and amounting end 51 of substantially U-shape. The mounting end is formed bya return bend so as to provide a flat mounting portion 58 edgewardlyengaged with the shaft 45 and a return bent portion 53 also edgewardlyengaged with the shaft. The mounting end 51 has a terminus 50 disposedtoward the extended end of the blade and is terminated short thereof;The edges of the mounting portions 51 and 58 engaged with the shaft arenotched, as at 6|, in fitted engagement tothe shaft. It will be notedthat the notches of the blades shown in Fig. 6 have a trapezoidal formand span a face of the hexagonal portion of the shaft. If all of theblades are so notched, they may be located on a hexagonal shaft in 120angular relation. The applicant prefers, however, to mount adjacentblades in 90 angular relation, as shown in Fig. 5, thus alternate bladesare provided with the trapezoidal notches SI and the intermediate bladesprovided with triangular notches B2.

The blades 55 are clamped against the hexagonal portion 4! of'the shaft45 by a pair of bolts 64' extended between the parallel portions 58 and59 of the blades of each pair on opposite sides of the shaft. Washers 65and nuts 65 mounted on the bolts serve to clamp the blades against theshaft.

Any desired: number of sets of blades may be.

utilized but a popular form thereof provides 21 sets of blades equallyspaced along the intermediate portion 41 of the shaft which is about 52inches long. The extended ends 56 of the blades terminate in adjacentspaced relation to the panels 31 and 38 of the housing.

Operation The operation of the boll breaker of the present invention isbelieved to be clearly apparent and is briefiy summarized at this point.The blower I3 is actuated in the well known manner to reduce the airpressure within the separator H and discharge conduit 30 relative to theair pressure in the housing 33, supply conduit 28, and intake conduitIf] so as to draw cotton through the conduits and housing. When saidcotton is drawn into the intake conduit iii which is suitable forginning without breaking inadequately opened bolls thereof, the valve 24is positioned to close the supply conduit 28 and to divert the cottonthrough the bypass conduit 25.

When the cotton drawn into the intake conduit It includes appreciablequantities of inadequately opened bolls, the valve 24 is positioned, asshown in Figs. 1 and 2, to direct the bolls of cotton through the supplyconduit 28, housing 33, and discharge conduit. 30.

It is the usual practice in cotton gins utilizing air line conveyors todraw the air through the conduits at a velocity offrom 2500 to 4500linear feet per minute. The velocity of air flow through the conduitsH], 28, and 30 and the housing 33 is usually confined to this range forgeneral operating convenience. Cotton bolls drawn through the conduitsand housing; indicated at 68, do not travel as fast as the air streamand thus tumble and slide along the bottoms of the conduitsv and thehousing. This is significant in. that it is preferred that most of thebolls to be broken passbelow the shaft 45 in traveling through thehousing 33. r

As illustrated in Fig. 5, the shaft 45 is rotated by the motor 5| in acounter-clockwise direction, as viewed, so that the blades travel belowthe shaft 45 from the inlet 29 toward the outlet 3|. The bolls S8 tumbleand slide along the supply conduit 28 into the housing and thence belowthe shaft 45. The shaft is rotated at such a speed that the blades 55hit the bolls in the direction in which they are moving. This hittingaction not only is found to shatter the bolls and make the cotton lintcontained therein available f nning but to accomplish the breaking ofthe bolls with no detectible damage to the lint. Further, this hittingaction precludes clogging of the housing under the operationalconditions noted by batting 'the bolls into the discharge'conduit 30.for subsequent passage to the separator l I; It has been found, that ifthe blower. l3 issuddenly deenergized, theblades 55 completely clear thehousing 33 without the aid of any appreciableair movement therethrough.Although the shaft may be'rotated throughout a considerable range ofspeeds, it is obvious that the blades must have a velocity greater thanthe velocity of the bolls 68 through the conduits and housing. With theair stream drawn through the conduits and housing at between 2500 and4500 linear feet per minute, the shaft 45. when rotated at a thousandrevolutions per minute, and'mounting blades which extend substantially 8inches from the shaft, imparts to the boll breaker effective operationin breaking all bolls passed therethrough. At such a speed of rotaass1,474

of the present invention is that the bolls 68 are. drawn through thehousing 33 by substantially.

reducing the air pressure in the discharge conduit over that in thesupply conduit. Although the boll breaker has proved completelysuccessful in the breaking of bolls when operated as shown anddescribed, the motivation of bolls through the housing by connectingablower to the supply conduit to force air through the housing has beenfound to be entirely impractical because of the resultant clogging inthe housing. In other words, the boll breaker operates highlysuccessfully when the bolls are motivated by a vacuum action and issubstantially inoperable when the bolls are motivated by air pressureapplied to the intak side. Casual observation would indicate, that thesemeans of motivation would be equivalents but such is not found to be thecase.

After extensive effort by cotton gin operators for many yearssuccessfully and economically to break cotton bolls for ginningpurposes, the subject boll breaker has proved to be the firstsuccessfully and economically to accomplish the purpose. For the firsttime th ginning of inadequately opened cotton bolls is made possible anda substantial source of previously wasted cotton made commerciallyavailable.

In the event of breakage, wear, or maladjustment of the blades 55, eachof which is extremely rare, the blades can be conveniently replaced byremoving the nuts 65 from the bolts 64 and simply lifting the bladesfrom the shaft 45. Convenient access to the housing is provided byfabricating the upper panel 3! so that the portion thereof fitted to thefracto-circular edges 35 of the sides 34 is removable. This may beaccomplished in any suitable manner and is not an essential feature ofthe invention. It is significant to note that the bolls 60, when theyare struck in the housing by the blades 55 and batted into the dischargeconduit 30, are only engaged by the edges of the blades. This has beenfound superior to engagement with flat paddle members and of much lessair disturbing effect.

Although the invention has been herein shown and described in what isconceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it isrecognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of theinvention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed hereinbut is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace anyand all equivalent devices and apparatus.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In a cotton gin, a boll breaker comprising substantially symmetricalhousing having an enlarged central portion and oppositely disposed inletand outlet openings; a supply conduit connected to the inlet opening ofthe housing being open to the atmosphere and adapted to deliver cottonbolls to the housing; a discharge conduit connected to the outletopening of the housing; means for reducing the air pressure on thedischarge conduit whereby cotton bolls are drawn through the housing; anelongated drive shaft having axially aligned cylindrical opposite journal end portions and an intermediate portion of polygonal cross section;bearings engaged with the journal end portions of the driv shaftmounting the shaft concentrically in the central portion of thesymmetrical housing; pairs of blades positioned transversely on theintermediate portion of the drive shaft, each blade including anelongated flat strap having an extended end and a mounting end ofsubstantially U- shape providing substantially parallel sides with themounting end disposed toward the extended end and terminating shortthereof, the blades of each pair being located on opposite sides of theshaft, oppositely extended from the shaft in substantially parallelrelation, and having notches in the edges of the parallel sides of theirmountihgends fitted to the polygonal portion of the shaft with oppositesides of the parallel sides of the blades in each pair located in commonplanes normal to the shaft; a pair of bolts extending between theparallel sides of both blades of each pair on opposite sides of theshaft clamping the blades against the shaft; and means having drivingconnection to the shaft for rotat ing the shaft in the housing.

2. In a cotton boll breaker, the combination of an elongated drive shafthaving axially aligned cylindrical opposite journal end portions and anintermediate portion of polygonal cross section; pairs of bladespositioned transversely on the intermediate portion of the drive shaft,each blade including an elongated flat strap having an extended end anda mounting end of substantially U-shape providing substantially parallelmounting portions with the terminus of the mounting end disposed towardthe extended end and terminating short thereof, the blades of each pairbeing on opposite sides of the shaft, oppositely extended from the shaftin substantially parallel relation, and having notches in the edges ofthe parallel portions of their mounting ends fitted to the polygonalportion of the shaft with opposite sides of the parallel portions of theblades in each pair located in common planes normal to the shaft withthe parallel sides of each blade being on the same side of the shaft;and a pair of bolts extended between the parallel portions of bothblades of each pair on opposite sides of the shaft clamping the bladesagainst the shaft.

3. A cotton boll breaker comprising a housing having a pair ofsubstantially symmetrical sides located in substantially parallel erectplanes having opposite edges providing concentric fractocircular centraledge portions and oppositely extended convergent edge portions, and topand bottom panels fitted along the edges of the sides and securedthereto and with the sidesv defining an inlet opening and an outletopening diametrically related to the fracto-circular portions of theedges of the sides; a supply conduit connected to the inlet opening ofthe housing being open to the atmosphere and adapted to deliver cottonbolls to the housing; a discharge conduit connected to the outletopening of the housing; means for reducing air pressure in the dischargeconduit whereby cotton bolls are drawn through the housing; andelongated substantially horl zontal drive shaft having axially alignedcylindrical portions journaled in the sides of the housingconcentrically of the fracto-circular portions thereof and anintermediate portion of polygonal cross section; pairs of bladespositioned. transversely on the intermediate portion of the drive shaft,each blade including an elongated flat 7 strap having-an extended end inadjacent spaced relation to the panels of the housing and a mounting endof substantially U-shape providing substantially parallel sides with themounting.

the shaft; a pair of bolts extending between the parallel sides of bothblades of each pair on opposite sides of the shaft clamping the bladesagainst the shaft; and means having driving connection with the shaftrotating the shaft in.

a direction causing the blades to travel from the inlet opening towardthe outlet opening in the lower portion of the housing and at a speedcausing said blades to so travel at a speed greater than the speed ofmovement of bolls through the housing incident to reduction of airpressure in the discharge conduit.

4. A cotton boll breaker comprising a housing;

means for directing cotton bolls through the housing in an air stream; adrive shaft journaled. in the housing having an intermediate portion ofpolygonal cross section disposed transversely of the air stream in thehousing; means for ro'- tating-the drive shaft; pairs of bladespositioned transversely on the intermediate portion of the drive shaft,each blade including an elongated fiat strap having an extended end anda mounting end ofsubstantially U-shape providing substantially parallelsides with the mounting end disposed toward the extended end andterminating short thereof, the blades of each pair being located onopposite sides of the shaft, oppositely extended from the shaft insubstantially parallel relation, and having notches in the edges of theparallel sides of their mounting ends fitted to the polygonal portion ofthe shaft with opposite sides ofv the parallel sides of the blades ineach pair located in common planes normal to the shaft; and a pair ofbolts extending between the parallel sides of both blades of each pairon opposite sides of the shaft clamping the blades against the shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,260,581 Rodgers Mar. 26, 1918 1,397,257 Stacy Nov. 15, 19211,488,338 Gilmore Mar. 25, 1924 1,549,972 Hancock Aug. 18, 19252,477,628 Lanter Aug. 2. 1949

